Rotary Club welcomes new year with a splash

PORTSMOUTH — What's the forecast for New Year's Day? Well, the local Rotary Club hopes you're ready to say "wet and cold."

PORTSMOUTH — What's the forecast for New Year's Day? Well, the local Rotary Club hopes you're ready to say "wet and cold."

On Saturday, Jan. 1, the Portsmouth Rotary Club will be hosting its eighth annual Polar Bear Swim.

The charity event encourages local companies and individuals to welcome in the new year by taking a dip at Great Island Common Beach in New Castle.

All proceeds from the swim will benefit local organizations and nonprofits such as Cross Roads House, Betty's Dream, the YMCA, Camp Sunshine, the American Red Cross and others.

In honor of veterans and the armed forces, this year's theme is the "Military." With many service members from the USS Virginia submarine participating, this year's swim is a perfect opportunity to cheer on those who serve our country.

The event begins with participant registration at Great Island Common Beach at 11 a.m. under a big, warm tent courtesy of Sperry Tents. At 1 p.m., the bullhorn will sound for the plunge. All swimmers will be greeted afterwards with warm food and drink, commemorative gifts and hearty congratulations.

More information is available at www.portsmouthrotary.com and people may send inquiries to portsmouthrotary@yahoo.com.

PORTSMOUTH — The Flatbread Company restaurant, located at 138 Congress St., will host a benefit night for the New Hampshire Coastal Protection Partnership on Jan. 18 from 4 to 8 p.m.

Enjoy a hearty helping of Flatbread's signature wood-fired oven-baked pizza and support N.H. Coast's work to protect the natural resources of the Granite State's coastal watershed. N.H. Coast is a local nonprofit organization that has been working to raise public awareness about the problem of and solutions to nitrogen pollution in the Great Bay Estuary since 2008.

In 2010, the group completed installation of its first demonstration rain garden in New Castle. Studies indicate that rain gardens can remove up to 50 percent of the nitrogen found in stormwater run-off.

Proceeds from the benefit night will help N.H. Coast install new rain gardens in Seacoast communities in 2011.

Individuals or companies interested in sponsoring a rain garden — or installing one on their own property — can call Project Coordinator David Anderson at 617-0679.

OGUNQUIT, Maine — The Ogunquit Playhouse received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Theatre from the New England Theatre Conference at the 59th annual convention this fall in New Haven, Conn.

Jeff Watts, NETC president, presented Executive Artistic Director Bradford Kenney with an award recognizing the Playhouse as one of the most important cultural landmarks in New England. Among the many accolades Watts, thanked the Ogunquit Playhouse for producing high-quality Broadway plays and musicals since 1933.

The New England Theatre Conference Inc. is a nonprofit corporation, composed of individuals and organizations in New England, who are active or interested in the performing arts.

The Ogunquit Playhouse is a 503c not-for-profit, producing Broadway musicals each season, with performances Tuesday through Sunday, from May through October. Main Stage tickets go on sale in March. Gift certificates, flex-passes and season subscriptions are on sale now. The 2011 titles under consideration include "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Curtains," and "Miss Saigon."

For a complete list of show times, pricing and information about the season, visit www.ogunquitplayhouse.org. Tickets are available online or at the box office at (207) 646-5511.

live online courses

DOVER — In November 2009, when a building-wide heating issue necessitated the closing of Cocheco Arts and Technology Academy, which occupies a large space in a downtown mill building, a plan was implemented.

The plan, designed by CATA Director of Integrated Virtual Academics Bob Walker, involved students logging in to online classes so that they wouldn't lose the school day. While there's nothing particularly new about online classes, the method was what had heads turning all the way up to New Hampshire's Department of Education and beyond: The classes were live.

When classes can't be held at their school, CATA students log in to live classrooms where they see their teachers and interact with them via chat, whiteboard functions and also via audio. Lesson plans are carried out much as they would be were the students and teachers on site at the school. Attendance is taken by teachers and confirmed by CATA's office manager and guidance counselor, who then call parents of absent students. The only real difference in this scenario is that students can choose to stay in pajamas since they are heard but not seen.

Cocheco Arts and Technology is now accepting applications for the 2011-12 school year and will have placements available in all grades thanks to an expansion of their physical space.

For information and to download the application, visit www.cochecoarts.org or contact Carolyn Schwartz by e-mail at cschwartz@cochecoarts.org or call 742-0774.

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